Welltower spends $130M to buy senior living community in Boca Raton

Welltower just paid $130 million for a senior living community in Boca Raton, property records show.

Senior Housing Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust that owns and operates independent and assisted living communities, sold the Stratford Court of Boca Pointe, at 6343 Via De Sonrisa Del Sur.

Welltower, a Toledo, Ohio-based health care REIT, acquired the 20.3-acre property as part of a $368 million deal that includes four retirement communities in Arlington and Charlottesville, Virginia and in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Sunrise Senior Living managed the properties under triple-net leases, according to an announcement released earlier this year. Welltower owns 34 percent of Sunrise Senior Living.

Welltower said it would transition the communities to the RIDEA structure, which stands for the REIT Investment Diversification and Empowerment Act. The legislation, passed in 2008, lets senior housing REITs share operating income generated by their properties, but is riskier than triple-net leases, which guarantee escalating rent payments regardless of operating income generated, according to Senior Housing News.

Newtown, Massachusetts-based Senior Housing Properties paid about $124.3 million for the the four properties in 1994. The REIT said it would make more than $300 million off the sale of the portfolio.

The 526-unit Boca Raton community offers independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing and memory care. It was built in 1994.

Welltower sold a group of senior living properties in South Florida to Blackstone last year for a combined $154.7 million.